History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 70

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1700

USA > California > Orange County > History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 70

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The eldest of these, Horace Caldwell Head, received the nucleus of his education in the public schools of Garden Grove, completing it in the University of California at Berkeley, from which he was graduated in 1891 with the degree of Ph.B. After that. for a couple of years, he turned his attention to teaching, and he then entered the Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, the law department of the University of California, from which he received the degree of LL.B. in 1896. In May of that year. he was admitted to practice at the California Bar, and in the fall of 1896 he located at Fullerton, and hegan to practice his profession.

From the beginning, he met with such merited success that he was elected district attorney in 1902, and took office the following January, for a term of four years, which necessitated his removal to Santa Ana, a change to which he was evidently not per- sonally opposed, for he has since made that delightful city his home. At the close of his term of office, he engaged in the practice of law in Santa Ana, and later he formed a partnership with A. W. Rutan, under the firm name of Head and Rutan, and opened offices in the Farmers and Merchants Bank Building.

At Fullerton, in 1900, occurred the marriage of Horace C. Head and Miss Anna G. Hansen, whose parents had settled at Placentia in 1874. Her father, Peter Hansen, is still living, honored by all who know his sterling worth. Two children have blessed this fortunate marriage, and they are named Melville and Iris Head.

Since his term as district attorney, when he attained a very enviable reputation for his common sense, but fearless administration, his prosecution of criminals, defense of the best interests of the county, and his influence in favor of a better and higher, civic sense, Mr. Head has devoted himself to private practice, enjoying more and more a large and highly creditable client le. His standing is attested by the interesting fact that he is president of the Orange County Bar Association, and an influential director in the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce. During the late war, he was active in all the hond and war drives, and was one of the most acceptable "four minute" speakers. He takes a deep interest in the welfare of young men, recognizing in youth the strength

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and the hope of the nation, and is an unselfish, untiring worker in the various depart- ments of the Y. M. C. A.

Politically a Democrat, but decidely nonpartisian in his support of local move- ments, measures and men, Mr. Head is a Knights Templar Mason, and also a member of the Odd Fellows, and is a past exalted ruler of the Elks.

MRS. MARIA FAACKS .- The well-kept and productive ten-acre orange ranch of Mrs. Maria Faacks, widow of the late Herman Faacks, is located on Santa Clara Avenue, Orange. Both Mr. and Mrs. Faacks were born near Berlin, Germany, the former in 1840, the latter in 1844. She was a daughter of Wm. and Johanna (Hen- ning) Schulz, farmer folk, who brought their family to St. Paul, Minn., in 1865. Maria Schulz was the second oldest of their eight children, all of whom are living, but she is the only one in California. She was first married in St. Paul in 1866 to Julius Schmidt, a native of Saxony, Germany, who had come to Minnesota in the fifties, and served as an officer in a Minnesota regiment in the Civil War, after which he engaged in business in St. Paul until his death, which occurred in 1871. She after- wards married Herman Faacks, who had come to St. Paul in 1867 from his native place, Brandenburg, and by trade was a painter and decorator, a business he followed until, on account of his health, they came to Orange, Cal., in 1884, where they pur- chased ten acres on Santa Clara Avenue. It was a vineyard, which they grubbed out, and when they got it in shape set to Valencia oranges.

They had six children: Dora, Mrs. Logan, resides near San Francisco; Rudolph lives in Los Angeles, and has three children; Herman is in charge of operating the home farm; Edward died in Los Angeles; Oscar and Henry are in Lankershim, and the latter has one child.

Change of climate did not restore his health, and an impaired constitution soon brought Mr. Faacks to the end of his earthly journey while still in the prime of life. He died January 20, 1890, and was buried in the old cemetery adjacent to his ranch, and his widow and children were left to mourn his untimely decease. A worthy citi- zen, loyal to his adopted country, a devoted husband and a loving father, his memory is cherished in the hearts of loved ones who remember his sincerity of purpose and many noble qualities of character. In her religious convictions, Mrs. Faacks is a Lutheran, and politically is a strong Republican.

J. D. SPENNETTA .- A fruit buyer and shipper who well understands the ins and outs of that intricate business is J. D. Spennetta, proprietor of the Red Fox Orchards, who has made that brand widely and favorably known and has built up a good trade such as anyone might be proud of. He first came to Southern California in 1904, and since that time has witnessed many changes in the rapid advance to which he has been such a large contributor. He was born near St. Joseph, Berrien County, Mich., in 1886. the son of H. J. Spennetta, a farmer now residing at Orange, and attended the local grammar and high schools. Four years after the dawn of this eventful century he located at Cucamonga, Cal., and became the bookkeeper for the Cucamonga Citrus Fruit Growers Association there, working under Manager Stanton; and after the latter's death he left that concern and entered the employ of the Mutual Orange Distributors. At the end of a year, he was transferred to the main office at Redlands, where he became cashier; and in that position of considerable responsibility he remained until 1913, when he resigned and removed to Orange.

Here he bought a ranch, now famous as the Red Fox Orchards and in 1913 he set up a packing house in Orange and began as a fruit buyer. Since then, by fore- sight, study and hard work, he has built up a large patronage. The first year he shipped seventy-five cars, and now he despatches 650 cars. He has a line of trucks, and engages in a general trucking trade. Mr. Spennetta also handles fertilizer of the very highest grades and in quantity about 10,000 tons per year. He enjoys the repu- tation of being also the largest dealer of barley and bean straw in Orange County. handling approximately 7,500 tons. He is one of the original stockholders, directors and a vice-president of the First National Bank of Olive; in national politics he is a Republican, but he allows no partisanship to deter him from lending a hand when and wherever he can to boost both city and county of Orange.

While in Dakota, Mr. Spennetta was married to Miss Edna Cheuning, a native of Missouri, by whom he has had three children-Elizabeth, Paul and Mary. He was made a Mason in Orange Grove Lodge No. 293, and belongs to Orange Grove Chapter No. 99 of the Royal Arch Masons and Santa Ana Commandery No. 36, Knights Templar. He also has risen to the thirty-second degree in the Los Angeles Consistory of the Scottish Rite Masons, and he belongs to the Al Malaikah Temple of the A. A. O. N. M. S. of Los Angeles, and the Santa Ana Lodge of Elks.

Herman Faacks.

maria Faacho

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

ARTHUR H. DOMANN, M.D .- A distinguished representative of the medical fraternity of California, and one whose influence particularly in the Southland has been felt in favor of the most scientific conservation of the public welfare, is Dr. Arthur H. Domann, for the past five years County Health Officer and County Physician. He was born at Milwaukee, Wis., in 1879, where his father, Gustave Domann, still resides, with an honorable record as a first-class printer. His devoted mother, a splendid woman popular in maidenhood as Wilhelmina Stark, is also living there. Their union was blessed with three children-the subject of our review, the first born; William Domann a practicing physician at Menomonee Falls, Wis .; and a daughter, now Mrs. Arthur Murray of Milwaukee.

Commencing with the grammar schools of Milwaukee, Arthur was later graduated with honors from the excellent high school of that city, and when eighteen began to study pharmacy, under John A. Martens in Milwaukee. He remained in that field until 1902 when he moved to the Pacific Coast, settled for a while in Montana, and was later for several years in the state of Washington. Returning to Milwaukee, he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons there, one of the best medical schools west of the original institution of that name in New York City, and for two years studied medicine. Coming once again to the Coast, and to California, in 1909, he continued his medical studies at the University of Southern California, where he was graduated with the degree of M.D.

Since settling at Orange, Dr. Domann has rapidly advanced to the position of confidence in the public esteem which he now enjoys, being widely known as a suc- cessful physician and surgeon. His appointment as county physician and county health officer gave general satisfaction. Naturally, he belongs to the Orange County Medical Society, the State Medical Society and to the American Medical Association. In addition to his scientific research and practice, Dr. Domann is interested in citrus culture, and owns an orange and lemon orchard of thirty acres in the Peralta Hills, which he himself set out and improved from the start.

At Spokane, Wash., Dr. Domann was married to Miss Birdie Carter, a native of Kentucky, who is a member with him of the Scepter Chapter No. 163 of the Order Eastern Star of Orange. Dr. Domann was made a Mason in Fort Benton Lodge, F. & A. M., Montana, when he was twenty-one years of age, and he is now a member of Orange Grove Lodge No. 293, F. & A. M. He is also a member of Orange Grove Chapter No. 99, R. A. M. He belongs to Santa Ana Commandery No. 36, Knights Templar, and to the Al Malaikah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., and he is an Elk, belong- ing to the Santa Ana Lodge, and a member of the Orange Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

JOHNTY P. BORING .- One of the decidedly interesting early settlers of Orange, who has done his part faithfully for both the building up and the upbuilding of the town and county, is Johnty P. Boring, who came here in the summer of 1882. He was born at Palestine, Crawford County, Ill., on January 7, 1860, the son of Washington M. Boring, who was born in Marion County, Ind., member of an old Kentucky family, who were early settlers of the Hoosier State. Washington Boring came to Illinois with his parents, and was a wheelwright in Bridgeport and, later, at Ingraham. He passed his last days peacefully at Orange. Mrs. Boring was Matilda Robbins before her marriage, and she was a native of Vincennes, Ind., of French descent. She also died at Orange, the mother of three hoys and a girl, one of the sons being now deceased. The daughter Florence is Mrs. D. C. Pixley of Orange; and the other son living is Knox R. Boring of Oakland.

Johnty P. was educated in the public schools of Ingraham. and when eighteen. began clerking in a general store there. In August, 1882, he came to California, and pitched his tent at Orange, then such a small place that it had no sidewalks or any other public improvements. He began clerking for D. C. Pixley, with whom he con- tinued for five years, and he was then in the hardware business under the firm name of Pixley and Boring for two years. After that he was with C. S. Spencer in the grocery business, and later still was for eight years with Samuel Armor in his shoe and stationery store.

About 1900 Mr. Boring built a frame structure on his lots on South Glassell Street, and there opened a bicycle, gun and sporting goods store. Four years later. when he had no insurance, he was burned out, with a loss of $4.000. Nothing daunted. he began again at the bottom and built up a new business on the same site, and so well succeeded that he now has a new building on South Glassell Street, having a frontage of 120 feet, and occupied by six different stores. He continued in business until July, 1918, when he sold out his stock and has since rented his buildings. Since then he has built a two-story, four family white plastered flat in East Hollywood.

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modern and up-to-date, which yields a splendid income. Mr. Boring is a director in the Orange Building and Loan Association, having been connected with it for about a quarter of a century, and he is a member of the security committee of the association. He is also interested in citrus growing, and owns an orange and lemon orchard at Villa Park. He is a member of the Villa Park Orchard Association, and the Central Lemon Association.

On January 20, 1887, Mr. Boring was married, at Orange, to Miss Belle D. Hall, a native of Richland County, Ill. Two children have blessed this union; one is living Ronald A. Boring, who is attending the Orange Union high school. Mr. Boring was school trustee of Orange for many years, and also clerk of the board. He was, besides, city trustee for four years, and chairman of the finance committee; he was a member of the board when the sewers were being built, and when the paving of streets was first undertaken. A true-blue Republican, Mr. Boring was more than once a delegate to conventions in the days before the primaries.

Mr. Boring was made a Mason in Orange Grove Lodge No. 293, F. & A. M., and was exalted to the royal arch degree in Orange Grove Chapter No. 99, R. A. M., and he was knighted in Santa Ana Commandery No. 36, Knights Templar. He is a member of Al Malaikah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., in Los Angeles, and he is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge in Orange and with his wife he is a member of Scepter Chap- ter No. 163, Order Eastern Star, and Mrs. Boring is also a member of the Woman's Club of Orange. They are charter members of the Christian Church, in which Mr. Boring was a trustee for many years. In addition to being active in all the business associations in Orange, Mr. Boring has long participated in civic endeavors and in every good movement for the welfare of the community.

DANIEL F. ROYER, M. D .- An eminent physician more than distinguished for both his scientific and technical ability and his uprightness of character, is Dr. Daniel F. Royer, now one of the leading and most popular citizens of Orange. He was born at Waynesboro in the Cumberland Valley. Pa., and after sound schooling, was graduated from Carlisle College in Pennsylvania, after which he entered the State Normal School and completed the full course. Then he matriculated in the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, one of the foremost schools of medicine in the world, and having grad- uated from this institution with high honors, he entered with a fine scientific foundation upon a year of practical work in a large city hospital. This experience, so many-sided in its nature, proved invaluable to him, and when he was ready to attempt private prac- tice, he did so as a skillful surgeon and a highly-trained professional man.

Dr. Royer located for a while in Alpena, S. D., and soon attained an exceptionally prominent position in the field of medicine, while filling with honor and credit important public offices. He was for some time U. S. pension agent there, and for many years represented the Government in a similar capacity here. He was U. S. Indian agent at Pine Ridge during the stirring days when Sitting Bull had the populace of that entire section so alarmed, and during the fatal conflict with the two Indian chiefs, Dr. Royer fulfilled every duty in just such a manner as those personally acquainted with him might expect. He was also city treasurer of Alpena for six years, and served on the hoard of education for nine years. He was a member of the Dakota legislature during the two terms previous to the division of the Dakotas, and was a leader on the floor. and was speaker pro tem for several weeks during the absence of the speaker. As a registered pharmacist, he was one of the state board of pharmacy examiners and a member of various medical associations.

Dr. Royer came to Southern California on Christmas Day, 1896, and intended to establish himself in Los Angeles. In looking over some property he owned west of Orange, however, he carefully inspected the entire locality and decided to cast his lot here. The prospects for growth and development were very apparent, and he decided to make Orange his future home. He has been identified with the advancement of the city from the outset, and has participated in many of the movements which led the community to establish municipal undertakings of great necessity and importance. He was a member of the hoard of trustees of Orange for six years, and was mayor for one of the terms. There, as at other times and places, he exerted his best efforts for the good of the community, and in spite of his extensive medical practice, he devoted considerable time to the duties of his public offices.

Dr. Royer has met with pronounced success in Orange in the practice of his pro- fession, and his strong personality, intensive application to everything he undertakes, and careful, conscientious regard for all things pertaining to the responsibilities of his calling, have called forth a responsive note in the public mind, and he is held in the highest esteem both by his fellow citizens and his fellow practitioners-a circumstance amply demonstrated in innumerable ways. Dr. Royer is a member of the County

D. J. Royer.

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Medical Association, the State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the Southern California Medical Association, and the Pacific Coast Railway Surgeons' Association, and is the local surgeon for the Santa Fe, the Southern Pacific and the Pacific Electric railroads.

During the World War, Dr. Royer was a member of the local exemption board for District No. 1, of Orange County, which examined nearly 6,000 men, and gave freely of his time and services. He is a Knights Templar Mason and Shriner, as well as an Elk and an Odd Fellow, and enjoys in the circle of each of these well-known fraternities an enviable and deserved popularity.

THEODORE E. SCHMIDT .- A singularly appropriate analogy between the past and present is suggested by the fact that Theodore E. Schmidt spent his well-earned retirement in Anaheim, for in the very early days of the city's immaturity he was a prophet of wise foresight, and even suggested the name of the city. As his name im- plies Mr. Schmidt was of German ancestry, and in his native town of Bielefeldt he was educated in the public schools, and at a comparatively early age embarked in the dry goods business. This business experience was supplemented by extensive travel in different parts of Europe, principally in France and Spain, after which he enlisted in the German army as a private in the Fifteenth Infantry of Fusileers and for meritorious service was advanced to the rank of lieutenant. After an honorable discharge he came to America in 1848, and in the latter part of the same year he started out to cross Texas and Mexico, and at Mazatlan boarded a French sailing vessel which eventually anchored at San Francisco, the entire journey having consumed about seven months. As a means of livelihood he went to work in a brickyard, and afterwards became the proprietor of a bakery establishment which he conducted for two years. Later he engaged in the dry goods business. Meantime he became one of the chief promoters of the Los Angeles Vineyard Company, of which he was the first president and leading director. The company bought the tract of land upon which Anaheim is built, and as hefore stated, the name of the embryo town was the suggestion of Mr. Schmidt. In 1860 he located here and engaged in horticulture upon forty acres of land, and con- tinucd with fair success until 1871. A desire to visit the land of his birth was the natural outgrowth of his success, and he therefore spent about a year in Westphalia, and upon returning to New York was accompanied by his brother. In New York City he started a wholesale wine business, his chief object being the marketing of the Ana- heim wines, but his stock also included other brands. From a comparatively modest beginning at the foot of Broadway, on Bowling Green, he was obliged with the increase of trade to remove to more commodious quarters on Warren Street, where, under the firm name of James M. Bell & Company, he managed a thoroughly successful venture for many years.

In 1893 Mr. Schmidt disposed of his New York wine interests and removed to Vineland, N. J., where he purchased fifty-two acres of land and engaged in horticulture. This property he retained and owned until his death, but in 1899 he returned to Anaheim, Cal., and here he lived retired until his demise in 1911. He was married in San Fran- cisco in 1859 to Clementine Zimmerman born in New Orleans, La., who came to Cali- fornia with her parents in pioneer days: she died while on a visit to San Francisco on October 8, 1913. They had five children, two hoys and three girls, and two are living: Mrs. Clementine Turck of Anaheim and Mrs. J. H. Bullard of Los Angeles. It is an interesting fact that the south twenty acres of his original purchase is built up for business houses and residences, while the north twenty acres has been kept intact by the family until now the city has voted bonds to take it over for a city park, and a most beautiful location it is.

RAY C. LAMBERT .- A young man who has well fulfilled the Latin motto, "Seize the day," and has so improved his opportunities that he has succeeded beyond his most sanguine expectations, making good as a citrus grower who thoroughly understands the attractive industry and renders it still more attractive by his scientific methods of operation, is Ray C. Lambert who leases and cultivates a valuable part of the Irvine ranch. He is a son of Charles C. Lambert, the pioneer of Tustin still living and retired, a native of Iowa who came to California as a young man and set himself up

in business as a grading contractor. Among the extensive contracts undertaken by him was the grading for the Salt Lake and Santa Fe railroads in Los Angeles. Later, he joined the Fourth Street Meat Market in Santa Ana and helped build up its trade. He married Miss Amelia Hadley, who died in 1904, leaving four children: Everett Clayton, who patriotically served his country on board the Oregon, passed away in 1904, in Japan, a victim of pleuro-pneumonia-a favorite with his sailor-fellows and with all the officers, as well; Ray C. Lambert is the subject of our review. and he is assisted by his brother. Charles C., Jr .; Gertrude Amelia lives in Los Angeles.

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Ray attended the public schools at Tustin and put in a couple of years at the Santa Ana high school. Then he engaged in the nursery business at Tustin until he came to his present place on the Irvine ranch, in 1913, having secured an optional lease on 160 acres and immediately began the work of developing water, which he found he could have in abundance by sinking two wells 300 feet deep. He began with one well, and now both are pumped by two engines of twenty-five horsepower each, giving him over 100 inches of water which is more than ample to irrigate his entire holding.

Mr. Lambert made an agreement with Mr. Irvine by which, after a number of years of successful operation, he becomes the owner of half of the ranch he is now tenanting, and in the spring of 1914 began to plant Valencia orange trees. This work he continued through 1915 and 1916, and in the latter year he also set out lemon trees. He also installed a cement pipe line system, all the pipe being made on the place. The orchard has been interplanted with lima beans; and as he has been able to carry out his contract with Mr. Irvine to the letter the orchards having the required elevation, thus placing them in a thermal belt where it is practically frostless, and with the deep loam sediment soil he is, especially as a young man, very comfortably situated.

On August 10, 1915, Mr. Lambert was married at Santa Ana to Miss Clara Wells, a daughter of George W. and Clara (Stearns) Wells. He was a native of Illinois, and she a native of New York state, and they were married in Kansas and came to Cali- fornia in 1901. They settled at Santa Ana and are now living in the Yorba Linda district. Miss Wells attended the public schools at Santa Ana, and later was a student in the exclusive school for young ladies, Huntington Hall in Los Angeles. One child has blessed this union, Barbara Amelia. Mr. and Mrs. Lambert are prominent members of the First Presbyterian Church at Santa Ana, and Mr. Lambert is valued as a stand- patter in the Republican ranks. In 1916, Mr. Lambert built a handsome residence, at a cost of $15,000 dollars, on an elevation, among the foothills at the east of the Irvine ranch, and from his home, on a clear day, one can obtain an inspiring view of San Pedro and the blue Pacific twenty-five miles away, as well as an enchanting vista of the wide-spreading, picturesque Irvine ranch. Having thus succeeded to such an ex- ceptional degree during these few early years of his activity, Mr. Lambert gives promise of far greater things in the immediate future; and it is this capital in men and women of capacity for accomplishment which makes California truly a "Golden State."

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History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 70

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1700

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1700